Racing returns to Happy Valley for the midweek fixture this Wednesday, and South African jockey Richard Fourie looks to have good prospects of building on what has been an excellent start to his career in Hong Kong.
Fourie has 27 winners under his belt with just over three-quarters of the season gone and, after earning a careless riding suspension on the weekend, he will want to make the most of his chances before he commences that penalty after Saturday’s Sha Tin card.
The South African lightweight in his first season has formed a good association with unorthodox trainer Andy Leung, in his final term, and they combine in the opening Class Five event with Young Happy.
The gelding ran well twice at the Valley 1,650m before he was switched back to 1,000m at Sha Tin last start and ran particularly well in defeat despite his tenth – blocked for clear running most of the final 300m, he would likely have been in the finish with room.
Fourie also has good rides for his fellow countrymen David Ferraris, with Secretary Of State in race three, and Tony Millard, who has Jolly Victor in the seventh.
But Zac Purton and Douglas Whyte continue their championship battle. When Whyte opened a nine-win lead recently, it looked over but Purton refuses to lie down and the gap is back to only four wins.
Both have good rides as usual on Wednesday with Purton’s highlighted by Secret Of Winning and King’s Pact, while Whyte’s best mounts look John Size-trained Turbo Jewellery and Croesus.
Turbo Jewellery has won his last two for local rider Ben So, while Croesus has been screaming out to win a race for anyone at all but has had a string of unlucky runs from bad draws and needs some Whyte magic again from barrier eleven.
By Nathan Mody
